Monday, August 28, 2017

[xoylkfsz] All of society as a crowded theater

A person speaks inflammatory speech.  How society responds -- perhaps incited to commit acts of violence -- depends on the state of society.  Define a model which can predict, based on measurements of a society, how society will respond to inflammatory speech.

It is illegal to falsely shout "Fire!" in a crowded theater because a nervous audience might stampede for the doors, causing death and dismemberment.  If society is sufficiently on edge like that, we could consider it similar to a crowded theater and restrictions on the freedom of speech could be justified consistently.

However, if society is really on edge like that to be justified in punishing speech so aggressively, then society has significantly bigger problems than just the speaker.  The speaker, and the subsequent actions incited, reveal something terribly wrong with society: perhaps systematic oppression.

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